2-Person Net Multiplier Format Explained

The basics of the 2-Person Net Multiplier golf format are right there in that name. It's a format for two-person teams, and the net scores made by the two partners are multiplied.

First, note again that this format is usually played with net scores (actual scores minus any handicap strokes). You can play it with gross scores, but for reasons that will become clear using net scores (which are often, sometimes even always for high-handicappers, lower than gross scores) is a way to tamp down the points at stake and, if you are wagering on the game, therefore the potential money at stake. Using handicaps also levels the playing field in the normal manner, allowing a wider range of competition among golfers with different playing abilities.

So: 2-player teams, the scores are multiplied. Each golfer plays his own ball into the hole, normal stroke play, and records a net score. The two partners then multiply those scores for the team's score. Examples:

• On Hole 1, Player A scores a net 3, player B has a net 5; 3 multiplied by 5 equals 15, so 15 is the team's score on Hole 1.
• On Hole 2, Player has a net 4, Player B has a net 7. Four times seven is 28, so 28 is the team's score on Hole 2.

And so on. At the end of the round teams add up their points just as if they were adding up strokes, but high points wins. If you are wagering on the game in a 2-vs.-2 match, you can, if you wish, assign each point a value and pay out the difference in final points.

In a 2-Player Net Multiplier, it is important for each golfer on the team to avoid having a blowup hole. But it's even more important for at least one of those golfers to avoid any score higher than net 4. In other words, when scores are multiplied, your side needs one low score even more than it needs to avoid one big score.

Imagine one golfer on the team makes a net 8. If his partner scores net 3, that's still "only" 24 points. But if the partner scores net 5, that's 40 points — a big difference.

Golf formats that have "multiplier" in the name all work like this: Rather than two partners adding their scores together, they multiply their scores. A common multiplier game that uses Stableford scoring is called Russian Stableford.

More formats:

• How to play an Arizona Shuffle
• How the Scramble/Ramble format works
• The 4-Person Team Quota explained